Toyota recently hosted a backgrounder event on its upcoming hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle, which is due sometime next year as a 2015 model, and from it spilled a plethora of new information on the car. As reported by The Detroit News, the fuel-cell car (see how these setups work to create electricity here) will be relatively compact, feature gas-equivalent driving range, and is expected to cost around $50,000.

The yet-unnamed Toyota hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle will ride on a platform that straddles the compact and mid-size segments, apparently derived from the now-defunct Lexus HS250 hybrid‘s bones. This would make sense for a variety of reasons, not least because it gives Toyota a standalone platform to launch its hydrogen future from; also, the HS250’s profile seems eerily similar to that of 2011’s FCV-R concept, a Toyota show car with a hydrogen fuel-cell powertrain. We’d be willing to bet that car previews the production car’s look fairly accurately.

As for the car’s technical details, Toyota says the fuel-cell stack should be able to return more than 300 miles of driving range using about 11 pounds of hydrogen. Total system power should stand around 135 horsepower, so don’t expect the sedan to be speedy. Frugality will be the name of the game, a trait all the more important given the relative dearth of hydrogen refueling stations nationwide—even on the paradigm-pushing coasts. We’ll find out more about Toyota’s fuel-cell vehicle in the coming year, but until then, the automaker should hope more fueling stations appear. Otherwise, its big-dollar investment in environmental friendliness could be met by the car-buying public in much the same way as Honda’s FCX Clarity has been received: as a niche product for early adopters.